The important role of scattered trees on the herbaceous diversity of a grazed Mediterranean dehesa

López‐Sánchez, Aida; Miguel, Alfonso San; López-Carrasco, C.; Huntsinger, Lynn; Roig, Sònia

doi:10.1016/j.actao.2016.08.003

Cited by 21 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Being prime ecosystem engineers, woody species profoundly modify local environmental parameters. Consequently, in mosaic habitats, where forested and grassy communities intermingle, trees introduce significant heterogeneity into the ecosystem (Fernández‐Moya et al , López‐Sánchez et al ). In the studied semiarid ecosystem, we found evidence for this environmental heterogeneity in microclimate, soil nutrient content and topsoil moisture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underground deserts below fertility islands? Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Tölgyesi

Török²,

Hábenczyus

et al. 2020

Ecography

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Woody plants in water-limited ecosystems affect their environment on multiple scales: locally, natural stands can create islands of fertility for herb layer communities compared to open habitats, but afforestation has been shown to negatively affect regional water balance and productivity. Despite these contrasting observations, no coherent multiscale framework has been developed for the environmental effects of woody plants in water-limited ecosystems. To link local and regional effects of woody species in a spatially explicit model, we simultaneously measured site conditions (microclimate, nutrient availability and topsoil moisture) and conditions of regional relevance (deeper soil moisture), in forests with different canopy types (long, intermediate and short annual lifetime) and adjacent grasslands in sandy drylands. All types of forests ameliorated site conditions compared to adjacent grasslands, although natural stands did so more effectively than managed ones. At the same time, all forests desiccated deeper soil layers during the vegetation period, and the longer the canopy lifetime, the more severe the desiccation in summer and more delayed the recharge after the active period of the canopy. We conclude that the site-scale environmental amelioration brought about by woody species is bound to co-occur with the desiccation of deeper soil layers, leading to deficient ground water recharge. This means that the cost of creating islands of fertility for sensitive herb layer organisms is an inevitable negative impact on regional water balance. The canopy type or management intensity of the forests affects the magnitude but not the direction of these effects. The outlined framework of the effects of woody species should be considered for the conservation, restoration or profit-oriented use of forests as well as in forest-based carbon sequestration and soil erosion control projects in water-limited ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underground deserts below fertility islands? Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Tölgyesi

Török²,

Hábenczyus

et al. 2020

Ecography

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Being prime ecosystem engineers, woody species profoundly modify local environmental parameters. Consequently, in mosaic habitats, where forested and grassy communities intermingle, trees introduce significant heterogeneity into the ecosystem (Fernandez-Moya et al 2011, López-Sanchez et al 2016). In the studied semiarid ecosystem, we found evidence for this environmental heterogeneity in microclimate, soil nutrient content and topsoil moisture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underground deserts below fertility islands? – Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Tölgyesi

Török

Hábenczyus

et al. 2020

Preprint

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4Woody plants in water-limited ecosystems affect their environment on multiple scales: 5 locally, natural stands can create islands of fertility for herb layer communities compared to 6 open habitats, but afforestation has been shown to negatively affect regional water balance 7 and productivity. Despite these contrasting observations, no coherent multiscale framework 8 has been developed for the environmental effects of woody plants in water-limited 9 ecosystems. To link local and regional effects of woody species in a spatially explicit model, 10 we simultaneously measured site conditions (microclimate, nutrient availability and topsoil 11 moisture) and conditions of regional relevance (deeper soil moisture), in forests with different 12 canopy types (long, intermediate and short annual lifetime) and adjacent grasslands in sandy 13 drylands. All types of forests ameliorated site conditions compared to adjacent grasslands, 14 although natural stands did so more effectively than managed ones. At the same time, all 15 forests desiccated deeper soil layers during the vegetation period, and the longer the canopy 16 lifetime, the more severe the desiccation in summer and more delayed the recharge after the 17 active period of the canopy. We conclude that the site-scale environmental amelioration 18 brought about by woody species is bound to co-occur with the desiccation of deeper soil 19layers, leading to deficient ground water recharge. This means that the cost of creating islands 20 of fertility for sensitive herb layer organisms is an inevitable negative impact on regional 21 water balance. The canopy type or management intensity of the forests affects the magnitude 22 but not the direction of these effects. The outlined framework of the effects of woody species 23 should be considered for the conservation, restoration, or profit-oriented use of forests as well 24 2 as in forest-based carbon sequestration and soil erosion control projects in water-limited 25 ecosystems. 26 27

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“…Whilst our review does not indicate that specific interactions between ecosystem services emerges to dominate the literature, our literature does provide evidence of the multifunctionality of agroecosystems, and practices that favour one ecosystem service were often associated with multiple ecosystem services [33,35,37]. For example, shrub and tree cover in permanent crops and agroforestry were associated with biodiversity conservation and soil erosion control [30,35], whilst managed olive groves were associated with pollination ecosystem services [42]. Important synergies were also identified between livestock farming, biodiversity conservation and aesthetic and cultural values.…”

Section: Ecosystem Service Synergiesmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Agroforestry and multi-cropping systems generally had a positive impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Agroforestry systems were associated with improved erosion control, biodiversity and soil fertility [29], whilst scattered trees were identified as being important to maintain grassland diversity in Mediterranean dehesas [30]. Similarly, agroecosystems in which agrarian and forestry activities co-exist were associated with improved optimisation of freshwater flows and with the supply of multiple ecosystem services [31].…”

Section: Drivers and Pressures Acting On Mediterranean Agroecosystemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Ecosystem Services Supplied by Agroecosystems in Mediterranean Europe: A Literature Review

Balzan

Sadula

Scalvenzi

2020

Land

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Agricultural landscapes in the Mediterranean region may be considered as social-ecological systems that are important for biodiversity conservation whilst contributing to a wide range of ecosystem services. This literature review aims to identify the current state and biases of ecosystem service assessment in agroecosystems within the Mediterranean region, evaluate pressures impacting on agroecosystems and their services, and practices that promote ecosystem service synergies in Mediterranean agroecosystems. A total of 41 papers were selected for analysis from a set of 573 potentially relevant papers. Most of the selected papers focused on supporting, regulating and provisioning services, and mostly assessed ecosystem structure or services in the European Mediterranean context. Literature about benefits and values ascribed to by communities and stakeholders remain limited. Results presented here support the notion of multifunctional Mediterranean agroecosystems and multiple synergies were recorded in this review. Publications dealing with pressures that related to agricultural practices and demographic changes were in the majority and impact on different cropping systems. This review highlights the need to carry out integrated ecosystem service assessments that consider the multiple benefits derived from agroecosystems and which may be used to identify management practices that lead to the improvement of ecosystem services capacities and flows.

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The important role of scattered trees on the herbaceous diversity of a grazed Mediterranean dehesa

Cited by 21 publications

References 36 publications

Underground deserts below fertility islands? Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Underground deserts below fertility islands? Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Underground deserts below fertility islands? – Woody species desiccate lower soil layers in sandy drylands

Assessing Ecosystem Services Supplied by Agroecosystems in Mediterranean Europe: A Literature Review

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